Toyota FCHV goes from Osaka to Tokyo on one tank of H2
Apparently not content to let General Motors and Ford grab all the fuel cell glory, Toyota has leapfrogged General Motors' 300-mile Sequel ride by making a 347-mile trip with their FCHV fuel cell vehicle. The FCHV is a modified version of the previous generation Highlander equipped with Toyota's in-house-developed fuel cell stack. Toyota says they have improved the fuel efficiency of their fuel cell power-train by refining the design of their stack and improving the control software for the stack and the battery charging system. The previous 5,000 psi hydrogen tanks have also been replaced by new 10,000 psi tanks allowing more H2 to be stored on board. Toyota doesn't say what the fuel capacity of the FCHV is so a direct efficiency comparison is unknown at the moment, the new FCHV made the trip from Osaka to Tokyo without a fill-up. At the Tokyo Motor Show at the end of October, the FCHV will be on display and available for test drives, so if you're at the show you might want to check it out.
[Source: Toyota]
September 28, 2007
TOYOTA FCHV Makes Osaka-Tokyo Trip Without Refueling
-Initial Hydrogen Fill-up Enough for 560-kilometer Journey-
Tokyo - TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced that an improved version of its TOYOTA FCHV fuel cell hybrid vehicle successfully completed a long-distance road test today by traveling from Osaka to Tokyo on a single fueling of hydrogen.
Today's road test-part of the TOYOTA FCHV's public-road test program-started in front of the Osaka Prefectural Government Office in central Osaka City and, via the Meishin Expressway, Tomei Expressway and Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway, concluded at the Mega Web automobile-themed amusement facility in Tokyo's waterfront area, covering approximately 560 kilometers. The entire trip was completed with the air conditioner on and with no need to stop for refueling.
The TOYOTA FCHV used in the trip is 25% more fuel efficient than earlier versions, due to improvements in the TMC-developed, high-performance Toyota FC Stack fuel cell and to improvements in the control system for managing fuel cell output and battery charging/discharging. It also features TMC-developed 70Mpa high-pressure hydrogen tanks capable of storing approximately twice the amount of hydrogen as the TOYOTA FCHV's previous 35Mpa high-pressure hydrogen tanks. These improvements make it possible to achieve a single-fueling cruising distance of approximately 750km (in the 10-15 Japanese test cycle, as calculated by TMC).
In addition to issues related to cost and hydrogen storage methods, as well as other technical matters, the supply infrastructure and other issues of broad societal importance also need to be considered. TMC is actively working toward making fuel cell vehicles widespread by cooperating with the Japanese government, energy companies and other concerned entities. Against this backdrop, TMC is making steady progress in research and development related to, among others, cruising distance, low-temperature starts, durability and reduced costs.
Vehicle Specifications (for FCHV used in Osaka-Tokyo journey)
| Vehicle | Name | TOYOTA FCHV |
| Overall length/width/height (mm) | 4,735/1,815/1,685 | |
| Weight (kg) | 1,880 | |
| Seating capacity (persons) | 5 | |
| Performance | Maximum speed (km/h) | 155 |
| Fuel cell | Name | Toyota FC Stack |
| Type | Polymer electrolyte | |
| Output (kW) | 90 | |
| Motor | Type | Permanent magnet |
| Maximum output in kW (ps) | 90 (122) | |
| Maximum torque in N-m (kg-m) | 260 (26.5) | |
| Fuel | Type | Hydrogen |
| Storage system | High-pressure hydrogen storage tanks | |
| Maximum storage pressure (MPa) | 70 | |
| Battery | Type | Nickel-metal hydride |
For Reference
As part of the 40th Tokyo Motor Show, which runs from October 26 to November 11, the TOYOTA FCHV will be available for test-drives in a show-sponsored event called "Clean Energy Vehicles Test Ride".
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SkiD666 12:20PM (9/28/2007)
One question - The Toyota went further (45 miles), but how much fuel did it use? I thought in the Sequel test there was still fuel left over, so it could have gone further.
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A.Brien 12:32PM (9/28/2007)
347 miles is on par with my small 4 cylinders gasoline sub-compact and they say they can do even better with 750 kms( 472 miles ). So autonomy is not a problem anymore and if it was a car we can expect even more autonomy. I think that the message is that toyota is ready to market fuelcell vehicules but re-fueling stations is not plan by goverment-industry-carmakers consortium. It's a political problem not a technology one. They are way too slow with that. Nobody seem to have an intention of becoming an energy compagny selling hydrogen at public re-fueling stations as a business. It's full of opportunities to go rich by selling hydrogen gas like the one that sell gasoline. Car manufacturers can begin by selling fuelcell cars in los-angeles and someone can open
grocery-store with hydrogen fuel on sale at theses stores so it's a business opportunity for the near future.
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Sam Abuelsamid 12:34PM (9/28/2007)
Ski that's a good question. I asked my contact at Toyota in the US and they had no information on the amount of fuel used. Apparently Toyota in Japan isn't talking.
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A.Brien 1:29PM (9/28/2007)
They don't say too how they mesure it, by m3 or by kilo or by pound ?? I think that they can adopt the kilo for mesuring the miles per kilo and put the price by kilo so we can compare that to gasoline. A kilo is 2.2 pounds.
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Peter 2:07PM (9/28/2007)
A.Brien, just measure the hydrogen in dollars. Then it will be plainly obvious how far away we are from a viable hydrogen transportation economy.
Producing hydrogen requires electricity. Fuel cell cars require advanced batteries.
So I've got to ask: why don't you just use the electricity to charge the batteries?
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GoodCheer 2:09PM (9/28/2007)
This, like all FCV is a series hybrid (because a fuel cell makes electricity, not mechanical energy).
It is interesting to note the output capacities of the various components:
The maximum output of the electric motor is 90kW, which seems a bit low for a vehicle that size.
The maximum output of the fuel cell is also 90kW, which I would think would be far more than should be necessary, since there is a NiMH battery on board as well.
In other series hybrid applications we have seen, the generator only outputs about 20% of what equivalent ICE might produce, and instantaneous power comes from the battery.
The only guess as to an explanation I can come up with is that the battery is only there for brake regen, and power output from the FC is never stored, thereby avoiding conversion losses.
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Sam Abuelsamid 2:27PM (9/28/2007)
GoodCheer you are mistaken about the series hybrids. The only drivable series hybrid fuel cell vehicle that has been shown publicly is the Ford HySeries Drive Edge. The fuel cell Chevy Volt doesn't yet exist in a driveable form. This Toyota and all the others are parallel hybrids and most (except for the Chevy Sequel, the Honda FCX and the Edge which use lithium ion) just use NiMH batteries like current hybrids. On all these vehicles the fuel cell stack is the primary source of electricity directly to the motor. The battery provides an extra boost in parallel with the stack and captures energy from regen braking. Because the stack and battery both provide electricity no complex transmission is needed to blend energy, but otherwise the power flow is similar to existing production hybrids. Only the Edge has the stack configured to only charge the battery.
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Greg B. 8:37PM (9/30/2007)
This is yet another example of the progress that is being made with fuel cells. Some will try to make you believe that fuel cells are decades away, but that is a myth.
For a discussion of that and other hydrogen myths, take a look at "The Hype Against Hydrogen":
http://hydrogendiscoveries.wordpress.com/2007/09/24/the-hype-against-hydrogen-setting-the-record-straight-on-six-hydrogen-myths-perpetuated-by-joseph-romm/
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